Boys Love to Climb a Tree!

Our three youngest grandsons enjoying the beautiful sunny day on Saturday...

Nathan, Noah and Eli

Hope you had time to get out and enjoy the day!

        

New Tools!

I am so excited to show you my new tool.  I made a trip to Raleigh Thursday to pick up two of my grandsons for the week end.  While waiting for school to get out I had time for a quick trip to my favorite shop, Ornamentea.  If you haven't been and are close enough it is worth the trip.  They also have a website.

I've been waiting for a while to buy a dapping set and it was the first thing I saw when I got in the store.  I couldn't decide between this and a smaller version-but in the end thought this would be the best choice.

 This is my other new tool-

This week end is full and sometimes you have to delay gratification-but isn't it hard-so this will have to wait until next week-or maybe later as we have painters coming Monday morning to paint the bedroom and kitchen.

Do you have a dapping set and/or disk cutter?

I would love to see what you made!

Collections

I love to see what people collect and learn how their collections started.  Most times I have found that the collection was not intentional-they just kind of fell into it.  That happened to me with the things I collected over the years.  Some have gone by the way side while others have kept my interest for many years.

My first hobby as a child was collecting stamps-preferring U.S. commemorative stamps. While I still have the collection, this is one I didn't continue.

As a teenager, I collected inspirational quotes and verses. I still have these and have added many more over the years.  

For many years, I collected Depression glass-Hazel Atlas-cobalt blue Moderntone pattern.  I now have a complete set and don't actively look for more but I do have it prominently displayed in my china cabinet.

My next collection began at a yard sale where I bought a vintage wedding cake topper.  This one topper led to many more and to friends and family finding them for me.  After all isn't your collection a great gift idea?  So I have many more than I would have bought myself.  Although I no longer buy these, I still enjoy looking at them and have loaned them for wedding displays.

The one the right started it all!

This brings me to my collection of vintage Carteret County postcards.  In 1998, having newly discovered Ebay, I typed in Beaufort just to see if there was anything for sale. I found my first vintage postcard and  a new and ongoing hobby.  I have cards dating back to 1906 and love the history they document.  This collection led to a book collaboration with my son, Kevin. We researched and used the cards to publish a book detailing the history of Carteret County through these vintage images.  This is the one hobby I still maintain and am always on the look out for a card I don't have.

Do you have a collection?

How did it start?

To Consign or Not??

How did you decide how to sell your jewelry?

This seems more difficult than it should be for me.  Probably like most of you, I started making jewelry because it made me happy and was a great outlet for my creative side.  But then before I knew it, I had lots of jewelry and was wondering what to do with it.  There is only so much that you can wear yourself and/or give as gifts.

Last year  I sold at four of our county Arts Coalition shows.  I met and talked to lots of great people and did very good with my sales.  I have my set up and displays ready to go, so I plan to do this again this year.

This is all well and good but I still enjoy making jewelry and now I'm back at the same spot trying to decide what my next move will be. I want to create when I feel like it, make what I like and not feel like I am pressured to make something all the time.  But with the inventory that I have on hand, I feel like I need to do more than the few shows I did last year.

I'm now at the stage of "Do I do consignment or not".  How do I decide?
How do I get past the idea of all the work I put into making something and then paying 30-40% of the sales price for having it consigned?

Do you sell your jewelry?

Where do you sell?

How did you decide?

Tips and ideas are all welcome...